It was a turbulent morning, with thunder looming over the capital of the Austrian Empire, Vienna. June 8th, 1815, a day before the penultimate signing of all agreements made throughout the Congress of Vienna, and a year after the climax of the Napoleonic wars, people stood around the building situated in the center of Ballhausplatz. 

It was one of the most popular spots in town, as people would regularly visit the building to try to listen in on and figure out what was going on among the leaders of the European continent. 

All the people knew was that the leaders of Britain, France, Russia, Prussia, Austria, Sweden, Spain, and Portugal were meeting up to determine how to split the European continent in such a way so that there would be a balance of power and so no such wars could happen again, with only the highest ranking of people there to watch.

Two Austrians, Paul Gruber and Marie Bauer, were at the Vienna Congress, discussing what was going to happen there and what the final decision was going to be. They were sitting in woven chairs with wood armrests, legs crossed. 

The building was structured of wood and had a sleek design. It had been used as the main capitol building for hundreds of years among many generations of emperors.

Paul was a good man. He was aged around twenty-three years old. He had hair the color of dirty blonde that was shaped into a short mullet and he contributed to society, he cared for others, and even helped resolve conflicts within Vienna. Though, sometimes he got a little impatient. On this fine day, he wore a crimson red turtleneck, a leather jacket over it, and a nice matching grey and white patterned scarf.

Marie was a great lady. She was also twenty-three years old. She had dark brown hair that was ordinarily tied together, but naturally it flowed down behind her head. She always assisted others in need, helped clean up the city whenever something happened there, and was always there for her friends. On this day, she decided to wear a woven gray coat and an emerald green scarf with jewelry.

“What is taking them so long to decide?” wondered Paul.

“I mean, they are deciding the entire fate of Europe as a whole. You need to be patient,” responded Marie.

Paul and Marie had been friends for a long time. They were both in their twenties and had been best friends since they both graduated college. 

“Yeah, but we have already been here for hours! There is no way it can take this long for the leaders to just draw up some damn borders!” Paul slammed his armrest.

“Quiet!” Marie screamed. “You are going to get us into so much trouble if you don’t shut your mouth.”

Paul hesitated, “Fine, but you have to agree, at least slightly, that this is taking quite some time.”

“Okay, okay. Fine, I agree.”

Not long after, they saw somebody walk up to the old rustic podium and announce that the agreement would be made in a day or two and that everybody was dismissed. Paul thought to himself that this was extremely unfair for something that everyone paid to view.

A loud disgruntled groan echoed across the room as everyone there was disappointed with the outcome.

“Nobody can argue with this decision. The leaders need some more time to decide among themselves,” the judge replied to the noises of agony.

“We want the decision! We want the decision! We want the decision!” the room of angry Austrians was chanting.

Marie began tugging on Paul’s crimson turtleneck telling him they had to leave.

“No, we aren’t leaving without the results!” Paul stated.

“Yes, we are!” Marie fought back.”You know what? Fine. You can stay with your stupid protesters.”

Marie then stood up, let her chair fold into itself, and left the building. The doors shut loudly as the noise had echoed through the room.

“Marie! Marie! Wait!” Paul was left alone with the protesters as Marie had left.

Quickly, he put on his jacket and rushed out into the rain outside to chase after her. Everyone outside was puzzled as to why everyone in the room had started chanting and why two people had just dashed outside of the building. 

He stopped in front of the doorsteps to see if she had squeezed in among the crowd. 

Marie was nowhere to be seen.

“Marie! Marie! I apologize! Please come back here!” Paul yelled in a last attempt to find her.

Silence.

He sat down on a marble step at the entrance of the building. He was thinking about what he had done. Yellow light was pouring out of the room, contrasting with the dark blue colors of the turbulent and thundering night. Rain droplets hit his shoulders and his head, then slid down the leather jacket he was wearing.

Paul sat there for an hour, finally checking his watch to see how long he had sat in that place. The watch read “7:03 PM.”

“I guess she’s not coming back,  time for me to go home.”

He started heading out of Ballhausplatz and towards his house. He lived in a nice manor on the edge of Vienna. 

On the way to his quarters, he decided to stop by his favorite pub. He found a stool and hung his jacket on the back. He sat down and ordered a bottle of Austrian Schnapps.

The bar was made up of plaster and wood. It was a stark contrast to the dark blue sky right outside.

“Seems like you're  having a bad day my friend. What are you up to? Did you fall into the river again?” asked the bartender.

“No, Jakob. I messed up, and I messed up badly.”

Jakob Wagner, the bartender, took a stool and sat down next to Paul. Jakob was the same age as Paul and they had been best friends since ninth grade, the year when Austrians graduate school. Jakob had brown hair and at this time wore an ordinary black long-sleeved shirt. The man had always helped his friends and the community no matter what the circumstances.

“It can’t be that bad. I mean everything goes extremely well for you. You have a nice manor near the countryside, you have tons of money. You can even afford seats to view meetings among the greatest powers of Europe,” responded Jakob.

“Sure I have all of that, but what does it mean if I don’t have Marie by my side?” questioned Paul.

“Oh. So that’s what this is about. Did you anger her somehow? What happened?”

“You know the Vienna Congress, right? The one you just mentioned? Anyway, the decision was delayed to be announced tomorrow instead of today.

“Ah. That is horrible. But I can’t identify the correlation between what happened.”

“Well, everyone in the room was obviously getting quite mad that they had to wait another day for the outcome to be announced and unlike being civilized people, almost everyone started chanting for the results.”

“And let me guess, you joined in on it.”

“Yeah. I know. It was quite stupid of me to do so.”

“So Marie then left the building without you?”

”It’s like if you were there. I was stupid for participating in that protest. I should have just listened to her.

“So what are you going to do?”

“I don’t even know. I feel as if she is not coming back anytime soon. I think that this time I really made her angry.” 

Jakob stood up from his stool. “Well, I’m going to go get your schnapps.” He went to the back of the bar to grab a bottle of the clear drink.

Paul got out his wallet and took out 2300 Thaler to pay for the schnapps.

“Don’t worry. It’s on the house today,” stated Jakob as he noticed Paul taking out the money.

“Thanks,” responded Paul.

Paul got a cup and poured some of the schnapps into it. He took small sips in intervals while thinking about all that has happened to him in the last few days. He checked his watch once more and it read “9:37 PM.” 

“Ai. I didn’t realize how long I was here,” Paul reacted.

Jakob walked back over to Paul.

“Yeah, around an hour and a half. I’m surprised that you haven’t passed out yet considering that you just drank an entire bottle of schnapps.

“Well, I’m going to head home now.”

“What are you going to do to get Marie back?”

“I’ll come up with something.”

“Good luck, I guess.”

Paul picked up his leather jacket and swung it over his shoulders. He left the building and looked at the contrast of the lights against the night sky and sighed. He begun his trip back to his manor. 

His home was mostly constructed of different types of wood. The most prominent being spruce. It had been built decades ago and was passed down for generations in the Gruber family.

Upon returning home, he took off his knit scarf and once again hung up his jacket and other garments. He went upstairs to his quarters and passed out on his bed.

He woke up the next day hungover. He checked the grandfather clock in his room and jumped out of his bed when he realized it was already 10:13 AM. He ran downstairs and started making a cup of tea. He was getting ready for work until he realized that it was Friday and he was allowed to stay home that day due to the Congress. 

“Hmmm… I really need to figure out what to do.”

He couldn’t come up with any solution other than just visiting her house and apologizing. Though, he was too shy and cowardly to do so. He walked up to his mirror.

“Hi Marie! I-No, no, no. That doesn’t sound right. Hey Ma-No, not that either. Maybe-”

He heard knocking on the door.

“Hey Paul! It’s Jakob. Can you let me in?”

Paul went downstairs to open the door and to let Jakob in.

“Wow, you look horrible,” exclaimed Jakob.

“Yeah, yeah. Just come in. Let me get you a cup of tea,” responded Paul.

Jakob quickly hung up his garments and headed to the kitchen with Paul. He got his tea kettle and poured the remaining tea into two cups and slid one over to Jakob. 

“Thanks,” Jakob responded.

“It’s nothing,” claimed Paul.

“So, did you come up with something?”

“Well, my best idea, really, is just to walk up to her house and knock.”

“I guess that could work.” Jakob took a sip of his tea. “Since I know that you’re a coward and were probably preparing-”

“Hey! What the hell? But yeah, you're right.”

“Exactly. What I say is that you should just walk up to her house, knock on the door, tell her how you feel and that you are sorry for your actions, and there you go!”

“You just said I was a coward. How do you expect me to walk up to her house, or even the street?”

“I mean, if you really want her, then this is your only option.”

“Alright. I’m going.”

“Oh? So soon?”

“Yep. And you’re coming with.”

“Am I the emotional support?”

“Yeah”

Paul opened the door and waited for his friend as Jakob picked up all of his garments, put them on and followed Paul. The two set off for Hirschstetten.

Around ten minutes later, the two best friends approached Marie’s house. It was a nice little cottage with an entire forest patch in the backyard that came with the home. The house itself was made up of a mixture of wood and stone. It was sleek and seemed as if it had been pulled out of the Bavarian south.

“Are you sure about this? What if I get embarrassed and ruin my chances completely?” questioned Paul.

“You’ll be fine. Just speak from your heart,” responded Jakob.

Knock. Knock. Knock. 

No response.

Again, Paul knocked.

Once more, there was no response.

Maybe she’s not home, Paul wondered.

“Maybe we should tu-”

The door swung open with Marie in the opening. She was wearing a white sweater and a matching scarf. Her expression was confused and frustrated.

“Paul? Jakob?”

“Now’s your chance,” Jakob whispered to Paul.

I can’t. I’ll mess up and I’ll have no chance ever again. I need to turn back. I don’t know why I listened to Jakob. This was a horrible idea. Dozens of thoughts were flowing through Paul’s head. He was frozen in fear.

What is he doing? If he just stands there, he will definitely have no chance of redeeming himself. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought him here so early, maybe he needed some more training. Jakob was starting to panic as his friend was doing absolutely nothing.

What are they doing at my house? Why is Paul here? Why is he frozen? Why is Jakob here? Why isn’t he at the bar? What is happening right now? Marie was fuzzled and was waiting for either of the two friends to say something.

Jakob quickly nudged Paul to remind him where he was.

Paul immediately snapped back to reality. “Hi Marie.”

“Hi Paul? What are you and Jakob doing here? Isn’t he supposed to be at work?”
    “Exceptions can be made,” Jakob quickly responded.

“Marie, I wanted to say-”

Paul paused as he again plunged into his mind.

    “Mhm?”

    Jakob once again nudged Paul trying to get him to say something.

    Paul felt as if he was in limbo. He didn’t know what to do. Jakob was trying to bring him back to reality but he couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t feel anything at all, he was petrified.

    “Paul! Say something!” hissed Jakob. Worried for his friend, he kept trying to nudge Paul to try to have him speak.

    Paul was back. “Hi, yes, sorry. I wanted to apologize for my stupidity yesterday.”

    “Well, apology accepted, I guess. Anything else?” questioned Marie.

    “Uhm-uh. Well-” stuttered Paul.

    “You can do it!” Jakob quietly cheered on.

    “Listen Marie, ever since we were in college, I’ve liked you. And I wanted to ask whether you wanted to go out with me.”

    Nobody spoke. Everyone felt as if time had stopped. 

    I did it. Wow! That feels so much better, thought Paul.

    He did it. He managed to overcome his fears, thought Jakob.

    “Yes! It only took you so long,” Marie finally responded.

    It all ended well for everyone. A few hours later, the two went to the final meeting of the Vienna Congress. They had been waiting for this moment for a while now as the entire event began back in 1814. The results finally came in and the two were happy. No chanting from Paul, and no leaving by Marie. It all finished in their favor.